The nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a large, dark-colored, semiaquatic rodent that is native to southern South America. It can be easily mistaken with beaver (Castor canadensis) or a muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), especially when it is swimming. This superficial resemblance ends when a more detailed study of the animal is made. Other names used for the nutria include coypu, nutria-rat, South American beaver, Argentine beaver, and swamp beaver. They have short legs and a robust, highly arched body that is approximately 24 inches (61 cm) long. Their round tail is from 13 to 16 inches (33 to 41 cm) long and scantily haired. Males are slightly larger than females;the average weight for each is about 12 pounds (5.4 kg). Males and females may grow to 20 pounds (9.1 kg) and 18 pounds (8.2 kg), respectively.
Nutria Coypu’s Habitat
Nutria adapt to a wide variety of environmental conditions and persist in areas previously claimed to be unsuitable. In the United States, farm ponds and other freshwater impoundments, drainage canals with spoil banks, rivers and bayous, freshwater and brackish marshes, swamps, and combinations of various wetland types can provide a home to nutria. Nutria habitat, in general, is the semiaquatic environment that occurs at the boundary between land and permanent water. This zone usually has an abundance of emergent aquatic vegetation, small trees, and/or shrubs and may be interspersed with small clumps and hillocks of high ground. In the United States, all significant nutria populations are in coastal areas, and freshwater marshes are the preferred habitat.
Eating Habits
Nutria are almost entirely herbivorous and eat animal material (mostly insects) incidentally, when they feed on plants. Freshwater mussels and crustaceans are occasionally eaten in some parts of their range. Nutria are opportunistic feeders and eat approximately 25% of their body weight daily. They prefer several small meals to one large meal.
The succulent, basal portions of plants are preferred as food, but nutria also eat entire plants or several different parts of a plant. Roots, rhizomes, and tubers are especially important during winter. Nutria also eat crops and lawn grasses found adjacent to aquatic habitat.
Because of their dexterous forepaws, nutria can excavate soil and handle very small food items. Food is eaten in the water; on feeding platforms constructed from cut vegetation; at floating stations supported by logs, decaying mats of vegetation, or other debris; in shallow water; or on land. In some areas, the tops of muskrat houses and beaver lodges may also be used as feeding platforms.
Prevention and damage control
Preventive measures should be used whenever possible, especially in areas where damage is prevalent. Nutria are best controlled where they are causing damage or where they are most active. Baiting is sometimes used to concentrate nutria in specific locations where they can be controlled more easily. After the main concentrations of nutria are removed, control efforts should be directed at removing wary individuals.
- Exclusion:
Fences, walls, and other structures can reduce nutria damage, but high costs usually limit their use. Low fences (about 4 feet) with an apron buried at least 6 inches have been used effectively to exclude nutria from home gardens and lawns. Sheet metal shields can be used to prevent gnawing damage to wooden and styrofoam structures and trees. Protect seedlings with hardware cloth tubes around individual plants or wire mesh fencing around the perimeter of a stand. Sheet piling, bulkheads, and riprap can effectively protect stream banks from burrowing nutria.
- Habitat Modification:
Land that is well-drained and free of dense, weedy vegetation is generally unattractive to nutria. Use of other good farming practices, such as precision land leveling and weed management, can minimize nutria damage in agricultural areas.
-Draining and grading: Any drainage that holds water can be used by nutria as a travel route or home site. Consequently, eliminate standing water in drainages to reduce their attractiveness to nutria. This may be extremely difficult or impossible to accomplish in low-lying areas near coastal marshes and permanent bodies of water. Use precision leveling on well-drained soils to eliminate small ditches that are occasionally used by nutria. Grading and bulldozing can destroy active burrows in the banks of steep-sided ditches and waterways.
-Vegetation Control: Eliminate brush, trees, thickets, and weeds from fence lines and turn rows that are adjacent to ditches, drainages, waterways, and other wetlands to discourage nutria. Burn or remove cleared vegetation from the site. Brush piles left on the ground or in low spots can become ideal summer homes for nutria.
- Frightening:
Nutria are wary creatures and will try to escape when threatened. Loud noises, high pressure water sprays, and other types of harassment have been used to scare nutria from lawns and golf courses. The success of this type of control is usually short-lived and problem animals soon return. Consequently, frightening as a control technique is neither practical nor effective.
If you need to learn more about the traps that can be used to catch nutria, or the chemicals that could be applied, or possibly the repellents that can be considered, please read more about these on How to get rid of Nutria Coypu.
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